Intrepid Fashion

This article was written by Precious Obadara. It not only highlights the fact that Africa has influenced so many of the fashion trends we see reigning today, but it also mentioned the lack of recognition given to the homeland. It speaks heavily on Africa’s influence on worldwide fashion industries. This article makes mention of Africa’s influence on the different parts of fashion such as some of the now popular hairstyles, ornaments, and most especially the unique colourful and traditional patterns and prints. This piece also mentioned how European designers have adopted African fashion standards taking the ideas and making it their own. For example using traditional prints to make more modern garments. This is all fine until these European designers in question fail to make mention of the original source of inspiration. The article also makes an important mention of the lack of benefits Africa would receive from all of this. Readers will get a glimpse into quite a number of important moments in fashion that was heavily influenced by Africa. An example is Alexander McQueen exhibiting a £4,895 jacket. This jacket was an exact replica of a traditional Ethiopian/Eritrean cape called the kaba that is usually worn during ceremonies. McQueen’s inability to mention the source of inspiration for this garment brought him under fire. I feel this article captures a great amount of moments in the fashion industry that has been inspired by f=different parts of Africa that need to be recognized.

This article was written by Sass Brown. Sass Brown is a true revolutionary. She has a mission which is to change principles relating to design and around sustainable fashion. She seeks to change how customers engage with sustainable products. She wrote this piece on the national news lifestyle blog to talk about what it is about Africa that has made it such a fashion phenomenon. This post talks about the influence of African fashion on some large names some of which include the likes of Yves Saint Laurent, Jean Paul Gaultier and many more. This post also speaks about the rise of African fashion in the western and international world. While mentioning the recognition and cultural appreciation the African Fashion industry has been receiving in the global eye, the article also made sure to mention the cultural appropriation and hints of casual racism the industry faces. An example given was that of H&M dressing a black child in a hoodie that read “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle”. They received a lot of backlash from this and they promptly issued an apology and took down the offensive product. Readers can take a lot from this article, as it points out the fact that while there have been many advantages and positive sides to Africa and its fashion industry becoming widely accepted, there are still some drawbacks. I feel this article was spectacular because it covered a lot of aspects other articles avoid. Some of these aspects including the cultural appropriation of African fashion rather than appreciation. It also covered important aspects such and important names to remember in the industry such as Lisa Folawiyo, Aboubakar Fofana, and many more. When it comes to the article theme in general, I definitely feel more light needs to be shed on the negative ways African Fashion in perceived.

This piece was written and published by WestAfricanCareers.com. This is a site that attempts to publish information that positively promotes West Africans. The publish informative and inspiring content that resonates with professionals, entrepreneurs, etc of African heritage. The piece highlights the Rapid growth of the African fashion industry. It makes a point to emphasize some of the achievements the industry has made over the years. It informs readers about some achievements in the African Fashion industry has experienced both internationally and in the homeland. I feel this piece was beautifully written to capture some parts of the industry that light is never shed on. It listed African events that promote African fashion like the Nigerian fashion week and spoke about western brands targeting Africa’s emerging markets. We see this in cases of high fashion designers creating African inspired collections. Some of these designers include the likes of Jimmy Choo, Burberry and many other big names in the fashion industry. When it comes to the general topic of African fashion i do think that it has definitely come a long way in terms of being seen and appreciated over the years.

Fashion is defined by many as a unique form of self-expression. It serves as a way for people to express some feelings or emotions that most times cannot be expressed using words. Instead, they turn to an artistic route to express things they want to. African fashion is a very diverse topic. It allows Africans to express the different cultures we hold. African fashion is distinct and varies from the textiles, to the embroidered robes, and even the colorful beaded jewelry. Africa being a very large continent allows for very different traditional clothing throughout the countries. For example, countries like West-Africa have distinct dress styles that come from long existing traditions of textile crafts, dyeing, weaving, and printing.

This site will be used to explore the different trends in African fashion. It will be used to show the diversity and highlight the culture that is deeply rooted behind every pattern and fabric. Being able to learn about different cultures is an opportunity not everyone gets to come across and this platform will be able to share an important part of the different African cultures. The topic African Fashion will cover the evolution of fashion trends in some African Countries. How some of these fashion trends have changed and adapted to the modern-day trends. It will also highlight the importance of traditional fashion to Africans and give people an idea as to why cultural clothing is something every African has a sense of pride in. For the informative text with photos, I plan sharing some beautiful pieces of African textiles and explaining why each attire is important to the culture it belongs to, this will show the diversity of every African fabric and culture. For the Audio interviews I plan on speaking to different Africans both back home and abroad and asking them why their traditional attires are important to them and how often they actually wear cultural clothing, this will give an insight to how this clothing is perceived when worn in Africa and when worn elsewhere. For the Editorial Slideshow, I will be showing people wearing these African fabrics and show how different trends are used for different events, this is important because it shows that just like fashion everywhere else, African fashion does not stay stuck in the same era but it changes. For the investigative video I plan on speaking to older Africans and getting a deeper meaning on what their culture and cultural clothing means to them, this will give more of an insight to where these clothing’s actually come from.